


A New Life

by baddeanrising



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, POV Original Character, Psychopathology & Sociopathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 18:12:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3420590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baddeanrising/pseuds/baddeanrising
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My story starts in 1977, when Malachi Parker still was just a weird kid to us other kids. I knew Kai before and during becoming a sociopath. Ever wondered how a sociopath turns out when suddenly his emotions function normally again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolog

Malachi Parker won. He merged with his younger brother, Luke and succeeded. He was the leader of the Gemini coven. But still he wasn't satisfied. There was this new feeling inside his stomach, an inner pain he could not shake. He had just ruined the life of his sister, Olivia, whose twin he just killed. And Jo, his own twin, she had seen what he had done to all their siblings in 1994. It was a new sensation for Kai, to feel so strongly about this. What was wrong with him? Kai was so distressed by this new feeling that he googled ways to get rid of it. Soon he found people talking about writing a letter to someone he had wronged and burning it. So he grabbed a paper and a pen, and started apologizing to Jo for everything he had done to make her life miserable. He was calmly writing when suddenly he felt the feelings overwhelming him and water started running down his cheeks. It shocked him, after all, he had never experienced that before. Was something wrong with his eyes? When he finished, he burned it, but the feelings were still there. So he wrote another one and since he couldn't find Jo by any locator spell, he went to the Salvatore house to ask Damon and Elena to give the letter to her.

You know, if I read this part above, I can hardly believe that I wrote down a few facts about Malachi Parker. THE Kai Parker. The one who slaughtered 4 of his siblings in 1994. The one who already ruined my life before that. Let me tell you a little about how I used to know Kai before we continue with the story above.


	2. Chapter 1

I, Patricia Fuller, knew Kai since we were in kindergarden. He was only a few months older than me, putting us in the same grade. To be honest, he always was a very weird kid. He talked about witches and spells, covens and magic. I actually didn't mind, I was rather intrigued by the idea of magic. Little did I know that Kai was actually serious about what he talked about. He was still very funny and social until about the second grade. From then on he started to grow more introverted, read those old, creepy books that looked like they were used in satanic worship and dressed very dark. And he kept doing that since. Although i was friends with him until then, slowly our friendship went cold and he was more known as a loner. Later he began to harass people, including his twin sister and me. He got into fights with almost everyone, and as far as I knew, got really bad grades although he was an easy learner. When we started out in high school, he totally changed. He didn't go back to before, but he rather started on the one hand make friends, on the other hand mentally bully people - me included. At first, he was only blabbing stuff about magic and how he was so much superior to us, since someday he would be the leader of their coven. I always thought he was just boasting about fairytale stuff, but I did kind of notice that whenever he talked about that, his twin sister, Josette, was disturbed and kind of saddened by what he said. This went on for a while until I made a huge mistake and once mocked him about reading one of his family's grimoires. I asked him if he finally joined a satanic cult, now being able to actually perform magic, not just talk big. And from that day on, he made my life a living hell. He didn't actually bully me, but he did for example get every kid in school to not talk to me. He made me a loner, and soothed his own emotional pain through my misery. He knew how much I needed acceptance from others, how much I loved friends and hanging out with them, and how much I longed for a boyfriend. And he took that from me. Three years I went through school without a soul to talk to. And since he threatened to get me suspended from school, I didn't talk to the teachers about it. The interesting thing was, he even made it look like I was the one not wanting company, like I didn't want a boyfriend or go out with friends. In time he grew even bolder and saw to it that no college would accept me, so I would be stuck in Portland and would have to look for a job or something, and never amount to much. He succeeded in making me feel inferior. At first I always told myself I was stronger than him, and I would never let anything get in the way of my dreams. After a while I "corrected" that thinking, telling myself to be strong until the end of high school, then I would go to college and he would have no power over me there. But then the rejection letters started to come in. I didn't get into a single college, event though I must have tried at least 20 all over the US, Kai made sure of that. And when it was time for prom, the day I had actually been looking for my entire childhood and youth, of course, no one would ask me out, they didn't even let me buy a ticket, since the newest school policy was that only couples could attend prom. Again, compliments to Kai, who had the whole school at his disposal. On the night before prom night, I was sitting at home crying, when the doorbell rang and my mom let Kai in. He was here to ask me out for prom, and though at first I didn't want to accept, after a while I said yes, so I could at least attend my own prom with a proper date. Well, as proper a date as Kai could ever be. I went shopping for a dress with mom very quickly the next day, since I had given up hope to go to prom at all and therefore had not even looked before. I should have known by now, Kai loved control. So I actually wasn't too surprised when at the second shop mom and I went to, he showed up. I gotta hand it to him, he had good taste, but all he wanted, was for me to look pretty, so he would look good at the prom, but not let anyone near me. He would play the jealous boyfriend and not leave my side all evening. It was even worse than if I had went on my own, or even not gone at all. After graduation I had this inner rage and I was really insecure, causing depression and real bad health. I couldn't find a job for over 6 months, but in that time I finally met someone who accepted me for who I was, and wanted to right all that went wrong in my life as far as possible. We set the date for our wedding in November '92, and finally it seemed that I could live my life without interference of Kai. It was a new sensation, and for a while, life was perfect. On my wedding day however, Kai crashed the wedding ceremony, and once again, played the jealous ex-boyfriend and current lover. He was so convincing that despite my assurance that I have never even thought of him in this way, my almost husband left me at the altar. After that, my personality started changing for the worse. What people often said, that if you hate someone, don't show it, but rather treat them nice and be friendly, and kill them in your mind, well, it did take up a lot of space in my mind. I killed people in the most different ways, until I almost would mind-kill anyone who just looked at me the wrong way. I after a while got a new reputation - people said that I was serial killer potential, and whenever I came across a mom with her kids, she would pass to the other side of the street. I loved how superior I felt. People were afraid of me, I had power over them. Soon, I started to act on my sociopathic thinking. If I ever wanted to take revenge on Kai for ruining my life, I needed to be prepared. I started out "small", harassing the neighbors' pets. I used to be a really pet loving person, but I somehow felt this strange relief when I threw stones at the dog. The first animal I dissected on my own, was a frog in the woods, then one time I caught a mouse alive in a trap and tortured her until she finally died. The day after that, I got up in the morning, and went downstairs to find my parents sitting at the breakfast table. The only person I hated more than them was Kai, but they were in second place on my list. They had worked all the time instead of being there for me and telling me that I was right and Kai was wrong. I probably had hated them since 9th grade, and that hate just increased every day. So without much thought I grabbed a knife to slit their throats where they were sitting. Then I wiped the handle clean, dropped it on the floor, broke in the glass at the door from the garden to the kitchen, put some footprints there with big gardening shoes that actually had belonged to my dad, then got rid of them and called 911. I remember how despaired I sounded when I was on the phone, I even cried hysterically, and told them that my parents were murdered and the house was set on fire, but when I put down the phone, I quickly dried my tears and took some fuel and matches to light up the place. Since our house was mostly made of wood, it easily burned down. As soon as I saw the police lights appearing in the street, I went back into my role. That way I helped myself through the whole situation, and no one ever suspected me. The case was eventually put aside for lack of evidence, and I continued to plot my revenge on Kai. Then, on May 10th, 1994, I read in the newspaper that he had killed four of his siblings and severely injured another. After that day I never heard of him again. I even actively searched for him, since I wanted to take my revenge on the guy, but gave up after five years of not finding a clue. His family would only tell me that he went away, somewhere where he wouldn't return, but no specifics. Since I couldn't let go of my past, and it had messed me up real bad, I fell into the trap of drugs, and became addicted. I had different boyfriends who all were pretty dark and were all fellow substance users. With one of them I became pregnant in 2009, but as soon as he found out, he ran and I never heard of him again. I was absolutely not ready to care for a child, but I still kept it. It turned out to be one of my blessings in life, because being pregnant and later having to care for my little daughter Sophie, caused me to give up the drugs, and after a while I even found a job as a maid. She was born on the 25th of February, 2010, and I had never seen anything more beautiful in my life. After her birth I was struggling to maintain some kind of really low standard of living while trying to save up a bit of money, but I did live a good life for the first time in over 35 years. I built up this facade of being a nice woman with a sweet child for the sake of my daughter and I have to say, it went quite well like that until some time in 2015 when I received a personally delivered outwardly anonymous letter.


	3. Chapter 2

So, everything I had explained to you before about Kai merging and suddenly feeling anything else but sociopathic, that's what the first page of his letter was about. I read it and immediately threw it to thew side. I mean, who would believe him? He came back from a separate world where he was trapped for 20 years? And now he's both himself and traits of his brother after uniting their magic? Seriously, what the hell? Anyway, the second page was all about me and what he had done to me. He apologized about everything, and even sounded really sincere. But I didn't believe him. He was a sociopath, and that's what sociopaths are best in, faking emotion to appear normal, but in fact not feeling anything at all but the longing for power, I knew that from my own experience. So why would he suddenly be all touchy feely about this? I burned the letter and decided to move on with my life. Two weeks after I received the first letter, I got another one, again personally delivered, only my name on the envelope. Kai explained again how bad he felt, and that he wanted to meet because he wanted to right his wrongs and give back to me those 20 years of my life that I wasted because of him. Again, the letter landed in the oven, and I decided to look for another flat in a completely different city so as to escape Kai's grip on Portland. Obviously he still had the whole city under his influence, how else would he know that those last twenty years were pretty crappy for me? I soon found a nice, not too big town, Mystic Falls, which was intriguing and charming already from what I saw on the town's website. I found a house pretty soon, and since I had already saved up some money, decided to take up a small loan in addition and buy it. It was in a nice neighborhood, the girl living next door soon came for a visit after I moved in, and brought some cookies, much to Sophie's happiness. Caroline Forbes, my new neighbor, was a very talkative, sweet young woman, and immediately made me feel like finally finding home after all these years. Even though i probably could have been her mom, i rather felt like i might finally have found my first friend, though i didn't wanna admit it at first, at this part of my life I thought friendship was a weakness. I had a lot of work to do the first two weeks, there were some things that I had to get fixed, and Caroline helped me by asking her boyfriend Stefan to help me out with the repairs. So while Stefan was fixing the leaks in the roof, isolating blank wires, repairing a broken window and such, and I was unpacking and putting up some of the furniture, Caroline was cooking and her other friend, Elena made the garden presentable with the help of her boyfriend Damon. They were all such nice people, that even though I still had all that rage and unfinished business, I for a while became a different person. Before I had still treated people around me quite badly, except for my daughter, but now I felt like there was sense in going back to who I was before Kai changed me. Well, but like every story, mine wasn't all pretty from then on either. Around three weeks after I had moved in and when the house, garden and furniture was perfect as it should be, I hosted a small party for my helpers and some of their friends to thank them for their help and to get to know a few more town people. Sophie helped me prepare some cupcakes and cookies, and shortly before the guests should arrive, Caroline came over to help me place all the glasses and the bowls with food somewhere on the rather small table in my living room. I had put a lot of blankets and bigger pillows on the floor, since I probably wouldn't have enough space on the couch, but I guessed that they wouldn't mind. I was right, in fact, when my first guests arrived - Stefan, Damon and Elena, they immediately sat down on the floor, leaving the couch free for other people. Soon enough they came - Matt, Sarah, Bonnie, Enzo, Tyler, then Jo (who somehow looked really familiar) and Alaric, who actually were the first ones to occupy the couch, and last, but not least, Jeremy, who had come home to visit his sister Elena during the spring holidays. I was quite happy with the little assembly that was gathered at my house, and Sophie was really happy to see Stefan again, who was very good with kids. Just as I wanted to officially encourage everyone to start eating and not leave anything over, the doorbell rang again.  
"Ah, that must be Kai, he said he would visit me for a while and arrive this evening", Jo said. I immediately winced at hearing his name but told myself it must be some other Kai. After all, what would be the odds to run into him exactly here when I was running from him?  
"What? Great, now we have to babysit? I thought we had the century off...", Damon sighed. Elena exchanged judgey looks with him and Jeremy rolled his eyes.  
I went out to get the door, and I think my heart stopped when I opened. Kai had not aged a day since I last saw him. At the first look, he didn't recognize me of course, I had aged a lot, especially through the drugs, but, as if he saw some traits of me from before, he stopped for a second, looked straight into my eyes, then laughed and said: " It IS you! I really hoped the new address was right! You never replied to my letters..."  
"Well, I was too busy scheming how to kill you properly", I replied with a cold voice, then pointed in the direction of the living room, so I would get released from the strong urge to kill him on the spot. While I was closing the door behind him, I heard him making his big entrance: "NOW the party is complete!"  
For a second, I contemplated taking a knife with me and stabbing him right in the spot where he was standing, but since Sophie was in there with the others, I decided to go with pretend friendliness for the moment. And I have to say, the party went really well, both he and I behaved normally, and it seemed like he really had found a set of emotions he lacked before. However, the evening turned when he started telling stories about him and me from school. He told them from the viewpoint of the other students, not telling what I suffered in the meantime. When he started telling about me being his "date" to prom, my patience was gone.  
"Sophie, go into your room!", I commanded her. Then in grabbed the cake knife on the table and went full on killer. All that rage I had stored inside came out, and though I at first didn't wanna give too bad an impression, and only threatened him by holding the knife to his throat, after ten seconds and a few "hilarious" comments from him I couldn't keep it in and started stabbing Kai. You can imagine the shock and the disorder that suddenly came among my guests, and who could blame them? Their host turned out to be a killer! However, instead of running, Stefan went out to look after Sophie, Damon grabbed my arms quite hard, causing me to drop the knife due to the pain, while I stared first at Jo, who strangely felt pain, the more I stabbed Kai, like they were linked somehow, and then at Elena who suddenly had red eyes, veins that were sticking out beneath her eyes and fangs. Then she bit her wrist and fed the blood to Kai which would have been disturbing enough, but out of some weird reason it healed him. I went back a few steps, which obviously showed Damon I wasn't full of rage anymore, but rather confused, then sank back on the chair behind me. When Kai was released of his pain, he looked at me with a very weird look I had never seen in his eyes before. When I think about it now, it must have been something like a sad look, disappointment that I didn't forgive him, but still hated him for what he had done. And then he did something that in my wildest dreams I would never have dreamed of.  
"I know you can't forgive me now for what I did, but I will make it up to you, piece by piece, I promise. And I'll start right now. If you read the letters, you'll know that I promise to give you back most of the time you lost because of me. I can't turn back time, but I can restore your body to your younger self. Phasmatos seculum inverto!"  
I then felt my entire skin tingling, then burning like fire, so I almost fell off the chair because of the pain. It took about a minute until the pain slowly stopped, then Kai offered me a mirror. When I looked at my reflection, I saw my younger self, how I looked like when I was 20, before I turned sociopathic.  
"Don't worry, Sophie will still know you, the spell works on her too, changing her memories as if she had only seen you like this", Kai explained.  
"How...?"  
"Remember what I told you in kindergarten about the Gemini coven?"  
"Oh my god, YOU'RE Josette Parker?", I turned to Jo.  
"Yes, I am."  
"So all of this was real? Magic is real? The merge, the spells, all of it? And your family can do magic?"  
"Jo could always do it until she gave it all to me, I could only practice after I absorbed magic from someone else, but since the merge I have his traits, including being able to do magic on my own."  
"And Elena...?"  
"I'm a vampire", she explained.  
"A vampire..." Somehow nothing really surprised me anymore at that point, I had seen too much weirdness for that.  
"Exactly. Damon, Stefan, Caroline and Enzo are, too, Tyler has a werewolf gene and Bonnie is a witch as well."  
"Okay slow down, I need to process. I don't even know what to think. Everything I knew is messed up now."  
They were all really considerate, Jo and Alaric soon left along with Matt, Sarah, Bonnie, Jeremy and Enzo, so I wouldn't be too burdened with guests at the current situation. Caroline helped Stefan with Sophie, leaving me with Damon, Elena and Kai. They just let me sit there silently for about five minutes, until I remembered the original outburst and the reason for it, so I decided to confront Kai about it.  
"Why did you make my life miserable?"  
"Excuse me?"  
"You know what I mean, Kai. Why did you indirectly make me kill my own parents?"  
"I don't know why I picked you to suffer. But I had to let out my frustration somewhere. My inability to do magic on my own caused my parents to call me an abomination. Can you imagine how that hurt?"  
"In fact, I can. My school mates weren't actually calling me names much, but I didn't have one single friend since I was in 8th grade. Remember how you made my life a living hell when we started high school?"  
"Yeah, not really charming from me, I guess. Actually, why DID I do it? I knew what it would do to you, and I think, you were the only person I actually might have cared about, except for my siblings."  
"You call that caring for someone? That was serious bullying!"  
"I did take you out for senior prom, didn't I?"  
"Only to scare off anyone who would talk to me and keep me from making friends for the last few weeks of high school!"  
"Of course, I wanted you to be only my friend!"  
"Friend? That wasn't friendship, that was harassment!"  
"Nah, you got it all wrong. I never called you names, I was there when you needed something, and I protected you from bad influence."  
"Protected me...? Don't you think I would have loved to make my own friends, make mistakes and learn from them instead of being known as the loner who doesn't socialize? Seriously, but what gives you the right to decide for my life in ANY matter?!?"  
"Well, what do you expect from a youth with a troubled childhood? I didn't know any better. And I was trying to be stronger, have more mental strength over others, so you can't really blame me. I looked out for myself and trained myself to be a good leader to the coven. Still, I'm sorry for any emotional pain I inflicted."  
"And you destroyed my wedding."  
"Oh, I had almost forgotten about that. That was maybe wrong. I really feel bad about that. But he wasn't right for you."  
"How would you know? What would you know of love?"  
"Not much, but I know that love wouldn't have believed the lies I told him about you."  
I didn't reply, on one part because I somehow knew he was right, on the other part because I just wanted him to shut up. So we sank back into silence, Kai looked as distressed as ever, Elena was next to me, trying to calm me down and comfort me, and Damon just stood there, partly awkward, partly caring, not sure whether he should try to say something to make it better or get everyone to leave. He decided for the latter, simply stating that they already imposed on my privacy too long, and asked Kai and Elena to come with him. Stefan soon followed, but Caroline stayed to look after Sophie so I could have time for myself. I locked myself in the bedroom and let the whole evening rewind. I thought about how sincere Kai looked when he told me he was sorry, how those emotions were impulsive rather than willfully switched on or off at some point, which would have been typical for a sociopath. Would it be possible that he was honest about having his brothers traits, about now being able to empathize, and care for people? It puzzled me exceedingly, but I couldn't think of another reason why he would suddenly appear to care for me. I mean, if vampires were real, and werewolves too, why couldn't the merge be real too, magic and everything around it? I mean, i only had to look at myself in the mirror to see how it actually had worked. I had almost forgotten how to feel empathy for others myself, the only person I really cared for in over twenty years was my own daughter, and how could you not love your own flesh and blood! But now this strange feeling of understanding, the sadness I felt, when thinking about how Kai's parents treated him and made him what he was today, it messed me up and I cried for the first time since that prom night.


	4. Chapter 3

I woke up the next day with my mascara all messed up and looking as horrible as a 20 year old can look like. It only took a few seconds to remember everything that happened the evening before. And the more I thought about it, the crazier it got, the weirder it seemed, and the realer it became. I got up, freshened up a bit, then went to Sophie's room to find her bed empty. I immediately went into an inner frenzy, just to find Caroline making pancakes in the kitchen, and Sophie getting the plates.  
"Good morning, Trish!", Caroline said when she saw me.  
"Good morning!", I greeted.  
"Hi mommy!", Sophie immediately replied, running up to me and hugging my legs.  
"Heya Cutesy, did you sleep well?"  
"Yeah, I did. Auntie Caroline stayed over in the night because she said you were not well. Are you better now, mommy?"  
"Yes, much better, sweetheart. I just had a little bit of a shock yesterday when I saw an old friend."  
"Oh... Was it about uncle Kai?"  
"Yeah. And I would prefer it if you wouldn't call him uncle."  
"What should I call him then, mommy?"  
"Either just Kai, or you can also call him Malachi, which is his full name."  
"Then I will call him Kai. So Kai was here this morning already and brought flowers and a letter. And he gave me a box of cookies that were really good. But he said that I should only eat two a day."  
"He... He was here?"  
"Sorry, yeah", Caroline half apologized, "I didn't want to bring it up yet, but he did come by. He said he was really sorry to dig up old wounds and you should read this."  
With that she handed me the letter.  
"He certainly has a thing for writing."  
When Caroline looked at me confused, I added: "He wrote to me twice when I still lived in Portland."  
At first I wanted to concentrate on Sophie and Caroline, on breakfast and starting the new day in a good way, but somehow that letter didn't let my thoughts revolve about anything else, so I excused myself to go read it. Kai had written:  
"Dear Trish,  
I am really sorry to have digged up old wounds yesterday. I never realized the whole effect it had on you. When I heard about your parents, I partly envied you, because you could finally be free of parental discrimination, but now that I know you killed them, I feel sorry for my part in all this. I caused this, I drove you to that edge and it was all my fault. I don't know what I can do at the moment to ease your pain, or to make you forgive me, but know that I will never give up to find ways. In the meantime I would like to beg of you to consider renewing the friendship we shared as kids, and just start over as new individuals, so I can directly, closely prove to you that I am sincere about this. Can you do that? If you at willing to do this, please meet me at the Grill tonight at 8pm.  
Kai"  
I didn't know what it was, but somehow I felt like I was drawn to him with a force stronger than my hate for him. I decided to not go, since I was quite stubborn when it came to stuff like this, but I did seriously consider going at first.  
Around five minutes after finishing the letter, Sophie ran in to tell me breakfast was ready. So I went over to join them.  
"I hope you don't mind me calling Stefan over?", Caroline said with a concerned look on her face.  
"Not at all! Glad to see you again so soon, Stefan. I thought you'd all stay at least five miles away from this house until five years after I moved out."  
"Haha, no, definitely not! Remember, I'm a vampire, I am not allowed to judge", he laughed.  
"That's not true, I'm sure of it. But thanks anyway."  
So we shared a very nice breakfast, where I could get to know my neighbors a little better. Stefan had his own car repair shop in Mystic Falls now that he completely moved back from Savannah. Caroline still was in college, but wanted to do something in the fashion department, maybe for a while only sell clothes or become a personal shopping assistant, but later on someday become a designer. For the first part of her supernaturally prolonged life. It was interesting and somehow intriguing to be able to start over every 30 years. Especially considering what I had gone through, this life had a special appeal to me. Somehow, even though I was still confused about how all of this worked, I from that day on fantasized about a possibility of becoming a vampire myself - no aging, I could turn Sophie when she would grow up, and therefore keep her safe later in life, I would be able to be a gazillion different people, and no one would notice. Theoretically I could even stay in one place for longer than 30 years if I could manage to erase any sign of me living there before, like mind compulsion, and deleting pictures. And well, you could always compel others to do that for you. If you anyway had to compel them to forget you, you could in the same process compel to delete all evidence of you living here in their personal files. And you could compel everyone to stay off vervain, then you would never have trouble to do it. Yeah, I was kind of a fantasizer. Maybe that was also the reason why no one ever found out that I killed my parents, because I fantasized about it and planned it to the last detail, so I would make no mistake. And obviously it worked, since I never got convicted. So, anyway, the more I got to know the vampires of Mystic Falls the more I felt like I wanted to share this gift or curse, depending on how you looked at it. Kai moved back to Mystic Falls, and I lived an awesome half year there, where Kai did his best to make me feel important, and the rest of the people I mentioned above became really good friends to me, who I couldn't imagine living without anymore after a while. I even started to feel more feelings again, things like love, compassion, sadness, I even started to feel sorry and guilty about killing my parents, which was a huge step forward for me. Also, Kai didn't only try to make me feel important from a far, he came by almost every single day, either bringing cookies for Sophie, or taking her to the playground, bringing me flowers, or showing me some mind blowing little magic "tricks" with candles, lighting my fireplace every day when winter came, magically removing the snow from the driveway so I didn't have to do I it manually, and small things like that. After that half year I was talking about, he came over one morning, doing his usual fire lighting and snow removing, and then came in for his daily coffee reward I started to give to him after seeing his efforts two weeks in. I kinda noticed a little strange behavior on his part, he didn't hear half of what I was saying, and when Sophie told him stories of what she had done since he came over the last day, he only said "yeah" or "really?", but still didn't really listen.  
"Hey Sophie, don't you wanna show Kai what you drew yesterday evening?", I asked her, and she immediately ran to her room to get the paper. When she was gone, I turned to Kai, and asked him what was wrong.  
"Nothing is wrong, I'm just not sure how to ask."  
"Ask what?"  
"Well, if it was that easy to tell, I wouldn't be sitting here staring at my coffee, nowz would I?"  
"True, but at some point you gotta have to talk to me."  
Then Sophie came back into the room, proudly showing the results of her hard work the previous evening.  
"Wow, it's amazing!", Kai told her, again obviously far away in thought.  
"Its you, Kai!", Sophie explained.  
"Well, why don't you go sign it for Kai and then wrapping it up as a present for him?"  
"That's a great idea mommy! I'll be right back", she replied with a bright smile on her face, then ran off with the drawing.  
"Alright Kai, talk. What is it?"  
"I... Ugh, why is this so hard?"  
"Just try."  
"I wanna ask you... I wanna go out with you."  
"See, it wasn't that.... Wait, what?"  
"I would like to take you out to dinner. Tonight."  
"Dinner? Me?"  
"Did I talk in Chinese? Yes, you, to dinner, tonight."  
"Why?"  
"Well, for the same reason why others ask other people out."  
"But why you? And me?"  
"Because I finally got to know you now and I feel like it's the right thing to do?"  
"But..."  
"It's strange to you, maybe, but I don't know, I feel so strongly about this, I just know this is right."  
"But... You surely mean it as us being friends."  
"No, Damon and Elena said it should be a proper date, I asked them for advice."  
"You asked them?" I laughed. Somehow that picture was hilariously funny to me.  
"Yeah, I told them my dilemma and they said that I should ask you out."  
"I see. Well, fine, I will go out with you if I can get someone to watch Sophie in the meantime, and if you promise to behave."  
"Behave? Well, I guess I can do that."  
Sophie again interrupted by coming in with the signed and wrapped drawing, causing us to again stop talking about the subject.  
"At 8 here?", Kai just quickly asked.  
"Okay great."  
"What's at 8, mommy?", she asked with those big, blue eyes of hers.  
"You will be hopefully able to visit either aunt Elena or aunt Caroline for the evening."  
"Really? Thank you mommy! Though I would rather go to uncle Damon's house with aunt Elena, it is great to play hide and seek there, and uncle Damon never finds me."  
"Well I will try calling them right away."  
Both Kai and Sophie were impatiently waiting for Elena to pick up, while I felt a little uncomfortable with so many amazingly blue eyes looking at me. Then she finally picked up.  
"Trish? What's up?"  
"Well, some of my vampire friends told Kai it was okay to ask me out, and now I'm stuck with a date I can only go to if Sophie will be looked after. And since you two caused all of this, and she longs to play hide and seek with uncle Damon in the Salvatore mansion, I guess that task will fall to you."  
I could hear Damon sigh, then Elena laugh over the phone, then Elena said: "Of course she can come over. Will you bring her, or should we pick her up?"  
I just wanted to say that I would bring her over, when Sophie was at my leg, pulling at my jeans and whispering: "Mom, please tell auntie Elena she should pick me up and then run there with me! Mommy please, please!"  
Who could ever resist those begging puppy eyes? So I turned to Elena on the phone again, saying: "Can you please pick her up? She loves the rush of being brought over to your house with superspeed."  
"Alright, I'll be there at five to eight", Elena replied. I thanked her, then we ended the call.  
"So I guess, you got your wish, Kai. And you little rascal are going to stay with Elena and Damon this evening."


	5. Chapter 4

I was quite nervous when I got ready around 7. On one part, I had not been on a proper date for a long time, on the other, I wasn't sure whether this date would be exactly the same as the prom date was - just another opportunity for Kai to show how superior he was to me. So on one part, I tried to look as beautiful as possible, on the other I tried to not get my hopes up, since I might just totally stumble and fall again. Elena was early, she came to my house at a quarter to eight, being concerned about me. I was glad to see her, somehow it got my mind off the nervousness, and when she came in, I immediately hugged her.  
"Good to see you too", Elena said, a little confused.  
"I'm so glad you're here! Do I look okay? Should I put my hair up, or leave it down? Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous. What if Kai only plays me again? Is he sure about this? What did you think when he came to you? Please help me out!"  
"Alright, first of all, calm down a bit. Here, let me get some water for you." She was back within seconds, you know, vampire speed and all. "Do you feel better now?"  
"A little."  
"Okay good. You need to stay hydrated, Kai won't be able to have a date with you if you end up in hospital before the evening begins."  
"True", I laughed nervously.  
"I am sure he is sincere. You can't imagine how nervous and emotional he was when he came over to ask for help, so don't worry."  
"Really?"  
"Yes. He even had tears in his eyes when he thought you might reject him."  
"Tears? Kai and tears?"  
"You know him well enough by now to know he can have tears in his eyes."  
"True, but it's still kinda new and weird to me. I have never actually seen him cry."  
"I have, and it's not really pretty."  
"Haha, is it ever?"  
"True. But see? You're laughing, that is good."  
"Thanks Elena."  
"So should I take you into town?"  
"Thanks but no, Kai is gonna pick me up here."  
"I see. Wait, I think he just drove up into the driveway."  
"Really? He's early."  
"You should go and see if he wants to come in, or if you will go straight to the Grill."  
"We're going to the Grill?"  
"I don't know, I just guessed he might wanna stay close."  
"Oh, yeah, good thinking."  
"Alright, go now!", she smiled.  
Sophie was just coming with her little backpack of PJs and some stuff she needed in case she needed to stay the night, and in the blink of an eye they were gone. I went to the front door and looked out of the glass through the curtains. There he was. He was just about to ring the bell, so I took a step back. But no ringing. When I looked again, he looked at his watch, where it was still 5 to 8, turning around, walking back to his car, then turning again and walking back to the door. Being there, he again attempted to ring the bell, then looked kinda nervous and torn if he should ring or wait a little more, then he turned again and walked away. It took way too long for me, so when he was halfway back at his car, I opened the door, and asked if he wanted to come in. He didn't say much, just coming in, and then we stood there in awkward silence for what felt like an hour. He didn't look me in the eyes and I also didn't really dare to look at his face, so I looked away. But somehow everywhere I looked seemed improper. At first I looked at the cupboard next to him, but I didn't wanna seem bored. Then I stared at his chest, but it stared to make me kind of hyperventilate, so I lowered my eyes, and somehow now was staring at his crotch which was immensely uncomfortable, especially since he was wearing skinny jeans. He didn't really notice though, since he was in the same dilemma, and after a while of trying to figure out where to look, he thought of our original purpose of meeting, and said: "We should probably leave at some point, we have reservations at eight."  
"Oh, sure, let's go. I just need my jacket... Okay, got it."  
Then we went out, and he went to the car while I was locking the door. On my way to the car, I saw how he opened the door for me and patiently waited for me to get in, then when I sat comfortably, he closed it up and went over to his side. I couldn't believe it. Five months ago I still would have killed him if he would have messed up the slightest thing, now I was going out on an official date with him. How the tides had turned! And I don't know why or how, but I somehow felt safe now that I was with him. Oh, and he did have amazing grey-blue eyes. And wonderful features. He actually was the most handsome guy I had ever seen, my ex-fiancee included. It always was his personality that made him the ugliest person in this universe, but now that he had changed a lot, he was quite attractive.  
We did, as Elena predicted, go for dinner at the Grill, Matt had seen to it, that we could have a quiet corner and it was decorated really nicely. Even though we usually came here to drink with friends, for that evening it didn't feel like a bar, but like a restaurant, and a great one too. We didn't have to pretend to like expensive, disgusting food here but rather each of us ordered burgers and pancakes for dessert. Oh, but Kai insisted that we would get a bottle of the finest red wine. I actually hated wine, but I gotta say that this very one wasn't too bad, and I really loved the gesture. To be honest, a lot of what we talked about that night, is kind of a blur, I was too nervous the whole time. We went home around 11pm, after one of us accidentally looked at the clock hanging in the Grill, and talked all the way home. Then Kai pulled up into the our driveway and stopped looking directly at me.  
"I had a great time tonight, Trish."  
"Me too. This is how prom should have been."  
"Maybe... But I'm glad we're here now, and not back then."  
"Why?"  
"Because...", he came closer to me, "I wouldn't have had a car back then."  
We both laughed.  
"You're a jerk, Malachi Parker!"  
"I know, but that's who I am..."  
I shook my head.  
"So, do you wanna come inside?"  
"Why didn't you say anything earlier? Would have saved us all that sentimentality!"  
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to hear what you'd say."  
Then I jumped out of the car to escape his fake punch. He immediately followed me, locked his car, then grabbed my hands, entwined his fingers with mine, and so we went to the door hand in hand. It felt great, just right. I unlocked the door, then we both went in and took off out jackets.  
"You want a drink?", I asked when Kai again started to stare, this time directly at my eyes. While I was saying it, I already turned around, ready to run off into the kitchen, when I felt him grab my arm and drawing me back to him. I felt his hand as he touched my cheek, softly directing my lips towards his, then felt his breath on my mouth, until finally our lips touched, and sparks flew uncontrollably. When he drew back hus head, it just left me wanting more. I opened my eyes, to look into his beautiful eyes, and saw him in a totally different, new light. He looked at me with utter, and complete love and desire, and when I threw my arms around his neck, he immediately understood and our lips locked again. My blouse that I had worn for dinner over a white lace corset, quickly landed on the floor, and so did his black shirt. He picked me up soon and carried me over to the bedroom, where he softly put me on the bed. While he was undoing his belt and zipper, I, too, removed my pants, which left him staring at my figure. Soon also those clothes were gone and I had one of the best nights of my life. We curled up to each other, feeling the other's skin on our own, and it felt safe, perfect.  
"Oh, crap, I forgot to tell Elena that Sophie should stay over!"  
"Just message her."  
"Okay, just a second."  
I had to get out of bed to get my purse from downstairs, and felt Kai's eyes on me every step of the way until I had grabbed my bathrobe and was out of the door. I rushed downstairs, wrote the message, and after pressing send, I stopped for a second and thought for a while. I had never before felt this way. I was completely, and utterly happy, I felt like life couldn't get any better from this point of view. I didn't stay long though, remembering that I had a naked Kai waiting for me in bed, so I hurried to get back upstairs, jumped back into bed and snuggled up to Kai again.  
"Today was great, Trish. I think I love you", I heard him say before drifting off into sleep.

When I woke up the next day, I reached over to the other side of the bed, only to find it was empty. I was completely awake immediately. Great. He probably just wanted to make me now look like a fool, so he ran in the morning and now is gonna use that to continue his torture. Just as I had finished that dark thought, the door opened, and Kai came in with a tray.  
"Oh, you're awake. Good morning, beautiful."  
"Good morning, Kai. Is this for me?"  
"This is for the most beautiful, amazing person I know."  
"Oh, so where is my tray?", I joked.  
"Very funny."  
He put the tray onto the bed next to me, then drank up that picture in front of him. Okay, to me, it was like he just stared.  
"You're staring, Kai."  
"No, I'm admiring you from a distance. You are so beautiful, Trish. I want this to be serious, to work. With you I finally feel right, like this is who I should have been in the first place, and I wanna be that person. Will you help me?"  
"Gladly."  
His eyes were full of joy when I said that one, simple word, then he finally decided to not keep staring, and instead came over and kissed me passionately.   
"So, what do you want for breakfast? I made various things, and whatever you're not eating, I'm gonna finish."  
"Oh, that's cute of you, but I think you might have to cook your own breakfast then, because I'm not sure whether there will be leftovers."  
He laughed, mumbled a "we'll see", then grabbed me with the blanket and carried me over to the guest room, throwing me on the bed, and ran back in a sad attempt to start without me, because when I got up and ran after him, I stopped at the door and dropped the blanket, causing him to first stare, then slowly get up and start last night all over again. This time we went onto the couch in the bedroom to save the breakfast from getting spilled all over the sheets. So, to not get into the details - all in all it was a perfect morning, and sometime around 11am I called Elena and told her she could now bring Sophie back. They were here within 10 minutes, and Sophie was really glad to see me again, after all, this was her first overnight stay.  
"How was she? Did she behave?"  
"Yeah, she was an angel."  
"Thank you again so much."  
"Don't worry about it, we loved to have her yesterday. So how did the date go?"  
"Kai is still here, so I suppose that means it went good."  
"Wow, it worked! I'm really glad for you, Trish."  
"I am too. I feel like finally I found happiness, peace. It just feels right."  
"That's so great!"  
Again, the interruption came from a little girl who came back from unpacking her backpack and declared she now wanted to become a vampire herself.  
"How come, Sophie?"  
"I wanna be as fast as uncle Damon. He always overtakes me when we run from the door to the tree in the driveway. And he always cheats."  
"Oh, that's a really bad trait. Maybe aunt Elena should talk to him, so he won't cheat anymore?"  
"Sure, she can do that, but I want to be a vampire too. Then I can also wear a daylight ring just like aunt Caroline's. It is so pretty."  
"Maybe we could ask Kai to make you a daylight ring without becoming a vampire."  
"You can wear one without being a vampire?!?"  
"Yes, you can. And if you ever become a vampire, you can use it as protection too."  
"Then I will ask Kai right now."  
With that she ran out, leaving me and Elena back to talking. She had to leave, however, since Damon was waiting for her at home, they wanted to join up with Bonnie and Jeremy, who had visited Bonnie for the weekend. So I walked with her to her car, where we hugged, said goodbye and she drove off. When I went in to see how Sophie and Kai were doing, I found them playing with her dolls in her room. It was so sweet, and Kai was such a good friend to Sophie. Now it flooded all back in, everything he and done for both me and Sophie over those last months, and I was so grateful for finding a guy like him. I was completely, utterly happy. I wouldn't have been half as happy if I could have expressed how happy I was that day.


End file.
